Duties: Brewing, yeast whispering and beard-scaping
From: Livermore, CA
Previous Job: Financial Planner
Favorite Food: filet mignon, mac-n-cheese, beer.
Favorite Beer: the next one
Person i’d like to have a beer with: Jesus or Gerry Lopez
M.Special brewery was fortunate enough to partner with one of the most passionate and inventive brewers in the area. Josh is an award winning brewer who specializes in making beers to satisfy the amazingly complex and ever thirsty palates of todays’ Zymurgy enthusiasts. His passion for beer was born in his garage as a homebrewer, and has fueled him to literally dozens of awards, medals, and accolades.
In 2014 he had a beer entered in the prestigious Great American Beer Festival’s Pro-Am Division. He’s a former winner of the fabled Santa Barbeerians Brewer of the Year award and earned Silver and Bronze certificates at the 2014 National Homebrew Competition which, at over 9000 entries, is considered the largest brew contest on earth. Josh has made beer with and learned from, some of the best beer makers on the planet, and is now eager to apply that education to making great beer for the people in his hometown.
Josh moved to Goleta in late 1994 to attend UCSB where he graduated in 1998, and has lived in the Santa Barbara area ever since. In 2001 he married a local girl, who was raised here, and shares a beautiful daughter, 2 cats, a dog, a fish, and a home with her. Sara’s patience and acceptance of Josh’s borderline obsession with making great beer was critical to his development as a brewer and her patience and acceptance of the long hours he put in while building out this project has been critical to M. Special moving from concept to reality.
“I love beer. Not simply the end product, but the process. I love the craft of beermaking and I love the reward of watching the happy faces of people who enjoy my beer. I have worked a desk job for the better part of 20 years, but I can’t imagine a more fulfilling life’s purpose than making beer. My growth as a brewer has been a community effort. From my affiliation with other homebrewers, other commercial brewers, suppliers, and breweries comes a feeling of community, and I hope that’s exactly what our new brewery brings to the good people who live here. If there is one immutable truth I’ve found during this journey, it’s: Good beer equals good people.”
The Brewers
Head Brewer
Michael Alcantar
From: Santa barbara local
favorite food: ice cream and sandwiches
favorite beer (style): mexican lager, dark lager, hoppy lager
people i'd like to have a beer with: Anthony Bourdain, Derrick Rose, and Andre Benjamin
Favorite pastime: disc golf
Favorite Movie: the Thing
Brewer
Jose Lopez
From: humboldt County
favorite food: pastrami sandwich
favorite beer: easy sippin' pilsner
person i'd like to have a beer with: Eduardo Carranco
Favorite pastimes: running, swimming, biking
Favorite Movie: Lord of the Rings
Our Brewery
The hops that we use are chosen carefully for each beer, leading us to create alliances with at least 3-4 hop brokers each year. Oftentimes, these merchants will specialize in hops from certain regions. Our brewery has also found hops from underrepresented markets that require this level of specialty. Growing around our Goleta property you will find Neomexicanus hops, raised each year from the ground up by our friend Kirk Leven. Native to the mountains of New Mexico, this variation is hardy and can grow almost a foot a week. Attending to these is no small feat, having to be harvested at just the right time to avoid spoilage. While these aren't used in our main recipes, there's enough for a home brew batch- which is exactly how our brewmaster Josh got his start!
Building the brewery has been a labor of love and ongoing process since M.Special's opening. That first year only 6 tanks were put in. Then, business started to grow. Two years later 5 more tanks were added and in 2020, 4 more. Of the 15 tanks that now occupy our giant space, nine are 30-barrel in size and five are 90 barrel. Each "barrel" is 31 gallons- so the large ones hold almost 3,000 gallons of beer! The smaller fermenters are optimal for beers like our Lazy Eye DIPA, turned over quicker in order to keep the heavy hops fresh. We provide for stores and taps all around central CA, and the fact that we run out of core beers and replenish frequently is a sign of fresh brews, every time! The large kegs that feed many of our taps are half-barrels. You're more than welcome to pop into the taproom to purchase a 15 gal. (or 5 gal.) keg. We also have a KEG DONATION request form for special occasions.
Find Us at Retail Locations
You can find M.Special beers in many stores across the Central Coast and Los Angeles. Our retail partners change often so if you need help finding a location, email chris@mspecialbrewco.com and we'll point you in the right direction.
